Atlanta Daily World

NEGROES AID
(Continued from Page 1)

they are not fostering the cause of
any particular group but are working
toward a better salvation of
those who depend upon the sea
and its allied work for their livelihood.

The color line has been erased
in this condition in which the shipping
industry has found itself immersed.
The longshoremen assert
that all consideration shown to
any longshoremen will be shown
to each and every one, regardless
of color, race or religion.

A. H. Peterson, secretary of the
Longshoremen's Association
branch in San Pedro stated to the
writer. "We have never drawn the
line on colored workers on the
dock. It has been the employers.
They are the people who have fostered
the segregation and are continuing to do so.

"Those colored boys in Los Angeles,"
he continued "have been
marvelous in their support of our
policy and allow me to tell you
had the white brethren of that
city shown the same measure of
treatment toward mankind as they
have, we would be much farther
along toward a realization of our
demands from the shippers."

It was learned by the writer
that the colored men had not
been considered as longshoremen
as they had not been employed as
such.

Police persecution has been
claimed by the strikers. They assert
that the police raided their
halls and took everything to the
police station. Even the daily papers
were seized by the police and
it has been said that the strikers
received an opinion from the authorities
that no one can seize
anything in their headquarters
without a search warrant.

Stories of violence in the daily
papers are exaggerated, so the
strikers say. One case was where
a former chief of detectives in a
mid-western city was severely
beaten. The papers stated that
the men had swarmed all over the
man but they say that only one
man ever hit him. Other stories
have been as ludicrous, so they assert.

Two colored seamen, who refused
to give their names, were
seen on the picket line at the Calmar
Line docks. They told the
reporter that they had stepped
off ship here when the strike was
declared and would not return until
it was settled. They were from
Philadelphia and had been away
from that city since April 24.

Officials at the port claim that
there has been more than a normal
flow of shipping out of Los
Angeles Harbor since May 9 at
which time the strike was called.
Most of the shipping out of the
San Francisco port has been handled
in this one and it has kept
the volume from sagging.

On the other hand, strikers assert
that while that may be true,
Los Angeles depends on coastwise
shipping, in a large measure for
its sustenance and with ships up
in San Francisco conditions critical
in Portland and Seattle having
major difficulties, the boasts
of the port officials seem to be
without foundation.